Could We Create A Second Entrance To The Overground At Highbury And Islington Station?
Highbury and Islington station is not one of my favourites.
It has only two escalators to get to the deep-level platforms for the Victoria line and the Northern City line. At least we have now got two fully working examples, but a much needed third escalator can’t be fitted in the empty position, as there is not enough circulation space at the bottom.
It’s all because it was a typical 1960s Jerry-built station like several on the Victoria line.
One of the problems is that although since the Overground was opened at Highbury and Islington, there is more space on the concourse, at certain times, like an evening match at The Emirates, every passageway and the space in front of the station, gets seriously overloaded.
Although the Overground was built to a price, they did save money by using good design, rather than just leaving something out, as they did on the Victoria line.
For this reason, although they could have reinstated the Eastern Curve at Dalston Junction, to enable trains to go directly between Stratford and the East London line, they chose not to, but instead made Canonbury station, into a good, easy and efficient interchange. Especially, if you were coming from Stratford and going south to or through Dalston Junction! I regularly if I’m coming home from Stratford, change at Canonbury to a southbound train and go to the first stop; Dalston Junction, from where I take one of the numerous buses home. It sounds complicated, but if I have a heavy parcel, there is only one set of steps, which can be bypassed by a lift.
To facilitate train changing at Highbury and Islington station, they also built a second footbridge over the tracks, at the western end of the platforms. This footbridge is also designed to serve an emergency exit from the station.
This footbridge and its associated emergency exit, opens on to the road alongside the station;Highbury Station Road. So could this exit be expanded into a full entrance and exit to the station? I took a walk around the station to see it all from the outside.
The residential developments around the north side of the station, probably wouldn’t take too kindly, to large numbers of people and especially football fans passing down their road. But it is only a short walk up Highbury Station Road on the south side to the wide expanses of Liverpool Road, which is in fact, an area poorly served by buses.
So a second entrance is probably feasible and it might give benefits to those, who live in the area to the west of the station. As Liverpool Road leads to the Emirates Stadium, a second entrance might help with congestion on the Holloway Road on match days.
Admittedly, a second entrance here would really only serve the Overground, but bear in mind that over the next couple of years, the capacity of trains on that set of lines, will be increased by twenty-five percent. This will put more pressure on Highbury and Islington station, which is a terminus of the Overground and the main northern interchange to the Underground.
I suspect too, that more football supporters will be using the Overground to get to the stadium. Remember that football fans have different travel patterns to say commuters and usually have a window of an hour or so before the match, when they can turn up. So they’ll see the extra capacity on the Overground and perhaps take a few minutes longer to get to the stadium in comfort, rather than crammed into an Underground train.
A second entrance would have certainly helped on Saturday, with all the chaos in the Balls Pond Road. If of course, the Overground had been running.
Glasgow Central Station
Glasgow Central is a large impressive station, that has been refurbished quite recently.
The station has a large well-lit waiting/meeting area in front of the platforms, which is a bit like having Kings Cross Square under the station roof!
Too many stations don’t have enough space for waiting and meeting, but Glasgow Central is not one of them.
Cash Machines Behind Barriers
By now, I’d determined that I needed to get a taxi to my hotel and as luck would have it not only was my phone out of juice, but so was my wallet.
So as I needed money for the taxi, I needed a cash machine and where are both of these found? In a station! But as the picture shows the only ones I could find were behind the ticket barriers.
Cash Machines Behind Barriers
Luckily, I was let through and got the money for the taxi. As it was the driver didn’t take credit cards, so I definitely needed that cash.
An Improved Waverley Station
Trying to improve Waverley station in Edinburgh, must be one of those jobs that architects find challenging to say the least. The site is in a cutting and very cramped and making an attractive station with all the facilities and decent entry and exit for passengers is probably the stuff of nightmares. They had a lot of similar issues at Birmingham New Street station, but seem to have solved them, by virtually demolishing the old station and starting again. But as these pictures show, a new clean roof and escalators can bring about improvements.
One thing that I found rather strange, was that the road opposite the station seems to be reserved for tour buses, which in my view should not be blocking up access to the station. I am surprised that the new trams won’t be crossing that bridge. Surely like Kings Cross, London Bridge and Euston stations in London, interchange with the local buses, should be just a short walk. At least the escalators up to Princes Street, make one entrance to Waverley station a lot easier.
Three Visitors Inspecting A Lith
I took this picture of the lith outside of Russell Square station.
Three Visitors Inspecting A Lith
I also talked to one of the staff inside, who liked the lith, but they said, they still got people asking them for directions.
Most stations now seem to have these Legible London liths outside. I now never carry a map, or use a map on my phone, as I walk around London, as the liths and the maps on bus stops and stations, will get me where I want to go.
Is Milan Station Doing A Kings Cross?
Milan Centrale station is a very grand affair.
But it would appear that the square in front is getting a makeover similar to that at Kings Cross in London.
On the other hand a lot of squares in Italy use different coloured marble and other stone for effect. So perhaps it’s Kings cross that is the copy.
I Nearly Missed My Train
on this trip, I have been making extensive use of Left Luggage offices. They have generally been fairly good, although more expensive than the self-service German lockers.
But I was greeted by this sign, when I return to Turin Porta Nuova station.
I Nearly Missed My Train
It could have meant a whole new meaning to left luggage.
When the guy returned, he was puffing away on the remains of a ciggie!
So I had found him out!
In the end, I caught the train with a few minutes to spare.
A Stopover At Lincoln
Although my ultimate destination was Sheffield to see Ipswich Town play, I had brunch with an old friend at Lincoln on the way.
In some ways Lincoln and its station is a very sore point in the UK’s rail network. And my brief visit flagged up many of them.
The rail service from London for an important city like Lincoln, is inadequate despite many promises of direct trains from the capital. I changed at Newark and the train from there to Lincoln was a very clean, but very crowded Class 153. But then it was run by East Midlands Trains, who aren’t exactly famous for providing services that customers want, as my trip earlier in the week to Derby showed.
I found the information at the station to be up with the worst in levels of inadequacy. I knew that our meeting place; Carluccio’s was in the High Street, but I ended up walking the wrong way down it, as maps were not of the standard that many places now have. If they want to get tourists from London on the eight hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta in 2015, they ought to get some wayfinding experts in to advise.
There is also the infamous level crossing that causes endless holds-up to pedestrians and drivers going about their business. Surely, this relic of the nineteenth century should be done away. But as Beeching removed the obvious solution, it looks like it is something that the city will have to live with for some time.
All The Fun Of The Fair
The fair in Kings Cross Square was going well, when I visited this morning.
Do we need more open spaces like this, to put on events? Of course!
Let The Fun Begin
Kings Cross Square is hosting a party over the weekend.
It looks like it could be a good party.
I was pleased to see the area clean, so early in the morning. there has been a report saying on the day it opened it was rather litter strewn.
